Applications are now open for Cohort 2 of the StudentVenture Student Startup Accelerator, the UK's largest accelerator for student founders. Powered by Vaultt and delivered in partnership with UNiDAYS, the eight-week programme takes founders from an idea to a real startup.
The biggest change this year is where it ends. After Cohort 1's pitch day at Revolut's Canary Wharf headquarters, Cohort 2's finalists will pitch on the big screen at Cineworld, Leicester Square, in partnership with Cineworld.
Applications close on 1 October 2026.
Cohort 1 set a high bar. 100 student founders went through the programme, and 10 pitched live at Revolut HQ in front of a panel of investors and operators, watched by more than 3,000 people online.
On the day, entrepreneur and investor Simon Squibb invested £18,500 on the spot: £10,000 into One Million Opportunities (OMO), founded by three University of Liverpool students, and £8,500 into okino, founded by Mara James. The People's Choice Award, voted by the live audience, went to Oscar Heaney of Far From.
The founders came from 80 universities and nearly every subject, from quantum computing and biotech to fintech and travel.
For Cohort 2, 50 founders will be selected onto the programme, and just 5 will earn a place on the biggest stage of the year: the final pitch at Cineworld, Leicester Square, in front of a room of VCs, investors, mentors and operators.
The programme is also built around real life. Whether founders are studying full-time, working part-time or juggling family, the accelerator flexes around students, not the other way around.
The accelerator is open to founders aged 18 to 30 who are current students, or who graduated within the last two years, with a pre-seed idea. It is industry agnostic, and open to founders anywhere in the UK.
Applications are open now and close on 1 October 2026. Founders apply online, and applications are best completed on a desktop or laptop.
“Cohort 1 showed just how many people have brilliant ideas, and what they can do once they are given the guidance and support to turn them into reality. Cohort 2 is our time to make it bigger and better.”Liam Jeffery, Founder & CEO, StudentVenture
Media enquiries: StudentVenture, company@studentventure.io